


Cara the Vampire Slayer

by hrhrionastar



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-06
Updated: 2011-11-06
Packaged: 2017-10-25 18:37:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/273486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hrhrionastar/pseuds/hrhrionastar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Buffy the Vampire Slayer LotS AU: The Keeper plots to destroy the world, and it's another night in Stowcroft for Cara. Written for Lots Monster Mash. Any dialogue you recognize is from BtVS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cara the Vampire Slayer

"The Keeper is plotting to destroy all life, Cara," Mr. Zorander announced dramatically—as if she didn't already know. "And you want to take the night off and go to the Palace?"

The Palace was _the_ place to go in Stowcroft, which admittedly was small enough that there weren't really many alternatives.

"Mr. Zorander's right, we should stay and research a plan to stop the Keeper," Richard said earnestly.

Cara rolled her eyes. She loved Richard, but he was such a Watcher's pet.

"Don't forget your mass-murdering ex," Kahlan put in. She was sitting on the edge of the table, next to a teetering pile of old and dusty books, with her legs daintily crossed and one foot swinging.

Kahlan presented a lovely picture, Cara couldn't deny it…but right now part of her hated her best friend for bringing up Dahlia.

Cara had only just begun to recover from her lover's betrayal. Dahlia had been her first—she'd told Dahlia things that she never…And all the time, Dahlia had been working with the Keeper to bring about the end of the world.

The Keeper was more than a vampire, more than a demon…and his armies, led by his vampire second-in-command, the snarky and sinisterly sexy Darken, would overrun Stowcroft, the rest of the Midlands, and all the world if Cara couldn't stop it.

"Cara, you are the Slayer," Mr. Zorander was saying earnestly.

Cara opened her eyes a little, to show she had been listening to his lecture the whole time.

"Into every generation a Slayer is born," he recited. "One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness—"

"To stop the spread of their evil, blah, blah, blah," Cara interrupted, rolling her eyes again. "I've heard it, okay?"

"Cara, the Keeper isn't going to take a night off," Mr. Zorander pushed. "You must—"

But she was tired of being nagged, however kindly meant.

Cara tossed her short blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at her Watcher. She reached into her red leather purse and held up her phone. "If the apocalypse comes, call me," she said flippantly.

Mr. Zorander opened his mouth to protest further, caught Richard's eye, and sighed. "Have fun," he called sardonically after them, as Cara linked arms with Richard on one side and Kahlan on the other.

The Palace was crowded. Cara and Richard went to get drinks while Kahlan snagged a table.

Kahlan never had any trouble getting people to move. If Cara didn't know better, she'd say Kahlan had some kind of mind-controlling power…but it was all natural charm.

"What'll you have?" asked Leo, the bartender. He was a student at the vocational school just outside of town.

He was cute, but lately he'd been pestering Cara about their one-night stand, trying to make it more than it had been, and getting on her nerves.

"I'll have a beer," Cara said, a challenge in her sparkling green eyes. "And a Sprite for Richard."

She leaned both elbows on the counter, narrowly avoiding a sticky red spill. Blood! an inner voice cried in alarm, and Cara tensed—but it was only Gatorade.

"You know I can't give you a beer, Cara, you're in high school," Leo said.

Cara leaned further over the bar, her red top now dipping dangerously low, and grabbed a handful of Leo's shirt. "Not even if I ask…nice?" she teased.

Leo sputtered.

"Three Sprites," Richard interrupted, pushing the money toward Leo.

Richard had recently gotten a mysterious inheritance, but that didn't account for his generosity in paying for Cara and Kahlan—he was always like that.

Cara relaxed and perched on the barstool next to Richard's while Leo got their sodas.

For a moment they sat in comfortable silence. But it didn't take Cara long to notice the direction of Richard's gaze.

Kahlan was sitting down now, and she'd pulled out a notebook while she waited. Homework, on a Saturday night. There was no accounting for some people.

But Kahlan wanted to be a lawyer, and she kept her grades up meticulously, and still found time to tutor Cara and Richard—not to mention helping Cara fight 'the forces of darkness.'

She was smart, loyal and drop-dead gorgeous. Of course Richard was in love with her.

"You should just ask her out, you know," Cara said.

"What? Who?" Richard replied nervously. His eyes darted from Kahlan to Cara and back. He wasn't fooling anyone.

"Life is short," Cara opined. "Seize the moment." Because tomorrow you might be dead—but she wasn't about to let on to Richard just how worried she was about the Keeper.

The dramatic increase in vampires and demons and zombies over the past few months showed no sign of stopping, and Cara wasn't sure she could protect everyone…besides, Mr. Zorander said the Keeper had some master plan—some way to tear a hole in the very fabric of reality.  
Monsters would come pouring out of the rift, maybe as early as next week. Maybe sooner.

It was warm in the Palace, but Cara shivered.

Someone was talking to Kahlan now—with an effort, Cara dredged up his name. Demmin Nass was on the football team.

Like every other guy in school, and quite a few of the girls, he had a major crush on Kahlan, but he didn't stop with simple adoration.

Kahlan, after a few grueling practice sessions with Cara, could take care of herself. Still…

Cara stood up. Richard was already standing, and Cara found the time to be annoyed once again that her head barely cleared his shoulder. He wasn't even particularly tall.

Then again, size was no guarantee of power. Cara pulled the sleeve of her leather jacket down over the wooden stake concealed within easy reach, and smirked.

Richard saw the movement. "I don't think Nass is _that_ kind of problem," he said drily. "Let me handle this."

Cara sighed, and made to straddle the barstool again. She should let Richard rescue Kahlan on his own, and there was always giving Leo a hard time if she got bored.

Kahlan's white dress practically glowed from the doorway. Cara thought she must use a gallon of bleach every day.

And Kahlan was leaving the Palace—with Demmin Nass. Why? Kahlan liked Richard, Cara was pretty sure, and more to the point, she hated Nass.

In fact Kahlan was violently opposed to what she called the 'royalty' of high school—jocks and cheerleaders. Nass, captain of the football team, and Denna, head cheerleader, were Kahlan's chosen enemies.

By rights, Cara ought to captain the cheerleading squad, but her Slayer duties had so far kept her from challenging Denna's position.

Kahlan wouldn't give Denna or Nass so much as the time of day. So what—?

"He's done something to her," Richard asserted. He shoved his way to the door, pausing to apologize for making little Violet Tamarang spill Coke all over her shirt.

Cara followed.

The outside air was cool, a welcome relief after the crowded club.

Cara blinked in the gloom, extending her senses the way Mr. Zorander was always telling her to.

There was a faint, whispered, "No…"

Cara rounded the corner at a run, Richard right behind her.

Nass had Kahlan pressed against a convenient wall, his fingers clenched around her upper arms. His mouth was inches from her neck, and although Cara couldn't see the fangs from this angle, she doubted Nass wanted to give Kahlan a simple hickey.

"Hey," she said, grabbing Nass by the collar of his team jacket and yanking him away from Kahlan. "Why don't you pick on someone my own size?"

"Slayer," Nass snarled. Yup, there were the fangs all right. "My Master believes you are a threat. Think how pleased he'll be when I kill you."

There didn't seem to be any real verbal response to that. Cara punched him.

Nass was big, and of course being a vampire made him stronger than human. But Cara was faster.

She ducked under his clumsily swung fist and pulled out her stake.

Nass rushed her.

Cara's eyes narrowed as she waited for her moment.

"Cara!" Richard cried out in warning.

She whirled around and recognized another jock, a Dragon, as they were called at D'Hara High. Complete with more fangs.

Cara rolled her eyes. It would be just like Dahlia to turn the entire football team.

The newly vamped Dragon reached for Cara's arm. Richard leapt at him, one arm locked around the vamp's throat, and pulled with all his strength. The Dragon staggered a little; Richard was tougher than he looked.

Her few seconds' distraction cost Cara, though. Nass shoved her against the wall against which Kahlan still leaned with one fist slammed into her stomach. He reached for a handful of Cara's shoulder-length blonde hair.

Cara ducked under Nass's grasping fingers and brought one sharply heeled boot down on his foot.

Vampires were not immune to pain, Cara knew. And her boots were not for the faint of heart—or the delicate of toe.

Nass winced, and Cara struck.

The stake penetrated the vampire's heart.

Cara walked calmly through the resulting cloud of dust and grabbed the second vampire by the back of his jacket before he could sink his fangs into Richard's neck.

She swung the vamp around to face her. He was still snarling in fury and confusion when Cara plunged the stake into his chest.

She tucked her weapon back into her sleeve, tossed her golden hair back, and offered Richard a hand up.

Kahlan was sitting on the ground, holding a tissue pressed to her neck. Cara saw a few drops of blood drying on Kahlan's pristinely white sleeve.

Fear paralyzed Cara for a moment—but Kahlan got to her feet under her own power and smiled tremulously.

If Cara's duties as the Slayer got her friends killed—what had she been thinking, ever letting them help her? This wasn't their responsibility. It was hers, and hers alone.

"Let's get you home," Richard said, in a voice that defied argument.

He wrapped an arm around Kahlan's waist, half-supporting her.

Kahlan snuggled closer to Richard.

Cara caught Kahlan's eye.

Kahlan shrugged innocently.

Relieved that Kahlan seemed all right, Cara led the way to Kahlan's family mansion. Kahlan was embarrassed by her family's wealth; Cara happened to know that she and her sister, Dennee, shared one Spartan room in the whole luxurious place.

Cara saw Richard and Kahlan inside, just to be safe. Vampires couldn't enter someone's home unless invited.

Richard had yet to let go of Kahlan. They looked so sweet together. Cara sighed.

"Don't forget to put something on that bite," she told Kahlan sternly.

Richard nodded. "Let's get you cleaned up," he said.

Cara's best friends disappeared in search of a first-aid kit. Cara left before she could run into Dennee; she had a feeling Kahlan's sister disapproved of her.

And she could see why—if Richard and Cara hadn't come just then, Nass would have drained Kahlan for sure, killing her or worse, turning her.  
Vampires didn't have to be evil, at least in theory, but they nearly always were. Cara had thought Dahlia was the exception, but…

She sighed, kicking a rock a little way down the street in her frustration. Kahlan was at risk because of her. Nass had definitely been using the famous vampire thrall power on her.

The same thing Master Rahl had tried on Cara last year. She'd been technically dead for a few minutes, before Richard brought her back with shadow water. Now she had a little hard-won immunity to thrall, a power not every vampire possessed, anyway.

Cara walked through the gate to the main cemetery without really noticing where she was going. Her night off hadn't exactly worked, anyway.

Dahlia and Darken were both supposed to be in the same vamp line as Master Rahl, which meant they had more power than the average, including the whole thrall thing.

No one, not even Mr. Zorander, seemed to know the full extent of the Keeper's powers.

The freshly turned earth on a new grave seemed to erupt upward like a tiny volcano as a fledgling vampire pulled her way out of the ground.  
Cara lengthened her stride.

The vampire had long honey-brown hair, which resemblance to Dahlia brought a lump to Cara's throat.

She waited politely.

The vampire attacked.

Several minutes later, she was dust, and Cara had a new bruise on her hip from a headstone.

"Impressive."

Cara recognized the liquidly sensual voice, even before she turned around.

She whirled and punched in one smooth motion, but Darken caught her fist in his open palm before it could connect with his face.

"We could play that game, love," he drawled, "or, you could listen to what I have to say."

Cara searched his face, looking for irony and finding it. But Darken didn't have his fangs out. And he was powerful enough that she wasn't entirely sure who would win if they fought. He was dangerous. He was exhilarating.

Also there was the novelty of a vampire wanting to _talk_ to her.

She stepped back. He let go of her fist immediately.

Cara leaned casually against the headstone and raised her eyebrows. "Fine. Talk," she ordered.

"I want to save the world."

Cara blinked. _"What?"_

Darken paced, incidentally stepping into Cara's personal space.

She tensed. For some reason she found herself remembering the way he'd called her 'love.'

Darken was a ruthless, conscienceless killer. Cara had a duty to slay any and all forces of darkness so unwise as to cross her path.

And she surely knew the folly of trusting a vampire, after Dahlia's betrayal.

And yet there was something about Darken that didn't add up. Starting with the laughable idea of a vampire who wanted to save the world.

"It is every vampire's avowed goal, to see the land of the living sucked into hell," Darken said coolly. "But the truth is, I like this world. So many people…and so many of them fools—a vampire need never go thirsty."

"There's one born every minute, right," Cara muttered. Didn't she know it.

"You can't beat the Keeper alone." It was a statement of fact.

Cara decided now was not the time to point out that she wasn't alone—she had Mr. Zorander and Richard and Kahlan.

But they were human. Vulnerable.

 _And you're not?_ a sardonic whisper through her thoughts. Cara was the Slayer. She risked death every day.

Darken stepped closer. He reached out with one finger and tapped Cara's bottom lip.

Stunned, she didn't move.

"I can help you," he purred.

"How?" Cara breathed, mesmerized.

Her phone rang.

Cara rolled her eyes, but dug it out of her purse. She glanced at the number. It was Kahlan.

She glanced warily at Darken. He opened his hands as if to say, _go ahead_.

Pretentious bastard—did he think she needed his permission?

Cara half-turned away from him, perched precariously on the headstone.

"Yeah?"

"Cara," Kahlan said. "Mr. Zorander figured out something new about the Keeper—to stop him, we need to find something called the Stone of Tears."

"Mmm," Cara said neutrally, mindful of her audience.

"We don't know anything except the name, yet," Kahlan went on. "Richard and I'll keep researching."

"Luck," Cara said.

"You, too," Kahlan replied, and hung up.

"The Stone of Tears, huh?" Darken drawled.

Cara spun back around, searching his face. If he warned the Keeper of this new lead—

And how had he known—?

"Enhanced vampire hearing," Darken smirked. "You don't know where to find the Stone, do you?"

"Not yet," Cara admitted.

"I do." Darken watched smugly for her reaction.

Cara considered him. This was either the worst mistake of her life, or the break she needed in order to beat the Keeper once and for all.

"Show me," she ordered.


End file.
